Unknown Soldier Vol. 1

I'm fortunate to call Josh Dysart a friend. I've known him for almost my entire career in comics, which is closing in on a decade now. He has a lot of tools in his toolbox as a writer that I'm incredibly envious of. He handles huge ideas in digestable ways, and creates world that are both painfully realistic, and bendable to his whims. If you don't believe check out his pitch perfect pulp work on Penny Farthing's Captain Gravity, him following in the footsteps of the greatest writer in comics and going toe to toe with him on Swamp Thing, or, crafting one of the most socially responsible comics about a crazy guy with a gun in the history of the medium, as he's done in Unknown Soldier.

The book is dark. Really dark. Achingly, painfully, nightmare inducing dark. And yet... it's not a nightmare to get through, as you'd expect. Instead, it's a delicate piece of true art that both forwards the medium of comics and manages to be a page turning semi-superhero style action piece. It crafts the perfect balance of information dump and character, that makes the world seem ultra-real, extremely foreign, yet simple and understandable.

There truly are few writers in Josh's league these days, and I'm thrilled to see someone so talented succeeding in such a grand sense. And in case it matters, he's also a sensationally sweet guy who can charm the pants off of you. Literally. I've seen it.

Do yourself a favor, and check out the book, and, I recommend seeing Josh's extensive notes, behind the scenes diary posts, and more over at http://www.joshuadysart.com